How to apply TDS Tax Deduction at Source for Tour Operators and Holiday Rental agents in Mauritius
September 27, 2014
By now all those in the tourism industry since the 15th of December 2011 should know how TDS works. I made a small tutorial back then for my partners that collaborate with my agency Isla-Mauricia to get an overview of how TDS works and it has brought in additional steps to process when you handle payments. This article might also be useful for those aspiring to work directly with landlords as a holiday rental agency, property manager or property owners by setting up their own villa rental agency. If you own a property and you wish to rent it to tourists you will need to apply for a tourist enterprise licence at the tourism authority and when you collaborate with local agencies in Mauritius they will have to pay your TDS directly to the MRA. More to that in my article below.
By the way, TDS applies on many other types of goods and services in Mauritius. My article only addresses tour operators, agents and tourism rental properties. I have added a link at the bottom of the article of the MRA which covers TDS more in depth. It’s good to have a look and to know. Just an example why, did you know that: “Payments made to a non-resident for any services rendered in Mauritius pursuant to section 111B(h) of the Income Tax Act” is 10%.
When TDS was introduced, it made quite some work for many. I worked out a solution with my programmer which does all the calculations for me in my backend system in which I process reservations for bookings of beach villas and apartments. TDS actually has resulted in me having quite some costs in handling it! And also it requires you to spend additional time processing it, just like VAT.
How to renew your Tour Operators licence in Mauritius
September 27, 2014
Update:
20.10.16
My article below dates back to the year 27.09.2014. A few things have changed again and actually the steps to do your renewal are back like it used to be. The trade fee has been cancelled.
So in order to do your renewal you will need to:
Before going to the Tourism Authority
1. Renew your public liability so that it covers the whole of the next following year.
2. Print out a letter that states that there is no change in the shareholding structure of your company. It should be a letter that carries the letter head of your company and must be stamped + signed.
Once you have done point 1 & 2 you can go to the Tourism Authority for renewal. I suggest you to go 2-3 months before your licence expires. Then you will have less waiting time.
What to take along when you go to the Tourism Authority?
1. Public liability insurance policy that clearly states the name of your company and coverage period.
2. Your letter that states that there is no change in the shareholding structure of your company. It should be a letter that carries the letter head of your company and must be stamped + signed.
3. Your old tour operator licence.
4. Cheque book, credit card or cash of Rs.11 000.
For point 2 you can use this as a template:
Tourism Authority
For the DIRECTOR
1st Floor, Victoria House
Corner Barracks and St.Louis Street
Port-Louis
MauritiusDate: _________________
Subject: Renewal of Tour Operators licenceDear Director of the Tourism Authority,
this is to confirm that there is no change in the shareholding structure of Your Company Name Ltd. The only shareholder is still the Managing Director of the company, bearing name Your Name and ID No. Your ID No.. The secretary of the company is still Name of Secretary.Yours Sincerely,
_______________________________________
Your Name
The article below can be interesting to review for learning purposes and it does also include steps and a template how to request a certified copy of your annual return from the companies division which displays who is the current share holder of the company. You will have to request that if there have been changes in your shareholding structure.
Else for additional accuracy I recommend you to also contact the Tourism Authority if you have questions and you can find a lot of infos on their websites:
→ Mauritius Tourism Authority official website
→ (Old website) The Mauritius Tourism Authority official website
As a tour operator in Mauritius, every year you need to renew your licence at the tourism authority based in Port-Louis, Mauritius. It involves several steps and procedures and you are required to go to Port-Louis a minimum of two times. I’ll outline that a bit later in my article. To get your licence renewed, you also need to pay and apply for various other documents, else you won’t get your renewal!
Those that have done business in Mauritius from abroad and living here, know that the island in its constant aim of progress; quite often changes its rules and regulations how such application procedures and renewals are handled. Never the less, you will still, every year, require to invest a bit of time, effort and transportation to get all what they require in your act together for submission. And even if you do everything precise, someone at some counter will make some comment that this or that isn’t right but however often a solution is provided or the latter is resolved.
Tour Operators Licence of IM Travel Services Ltd. which runs Isla-Mauricia
This is what SEO talk sounds like when 5 experts meet
August 31, 2014
Yesterday I had a look at this recorded hangout on air embedded below of “How Does Google Determine Content Quality? How Would You?” whicht hosted the following five speakers:
+Eric Enge, +Bill Slawski, +Ammon Johns, +David Harry, +Mark Traphagen
I have seen those guys speak in various other recorded HoAs and their discussions always deliver a series of goodies and take aways (in the sense of their conclusions and research work around SEO) for the ones interested about SEO and the arts of online marketing.
While for many; SEO is believed to be just link building, getting the content and titles of their pages right. Have a look at this discussion and discover the depths of SEO and its technical aspect. The panda update was mentioned several times. It’s been since a long time that I don’t follow up on Google updates any more, once upon a time when there were still those Google dances… Following these guys gets you quickly back on track.
My first expectation of their discussion; was it going to be the revelation how you create a high quality page? It turned out more to be what are the different aspects Google looks at to determine quality and how search results differ depending to various criteria such as the intent of the search, the time it was done. Some great examples where also mentioned such as sport games – how these results differ depending at what time you are doing your search.
These are my notes of their discussion round:
High quality site algorithm
Patterns (Points attribution or content quality scores. User behaviour being observed by quality raters to notice some patterns.)
Signals of low quality
Quality raters
Identifying domain place holder pages, content farms, link pages
Continue Reading
How do cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoins work?
August 28, 2014
The first time I heard about Bitcoins was on the radio here in Mauritius. I didn’t pay much attention and reminded myself you need to check it out someday. The word bit combined with coins should create a spark of curiosity for anyone interested in information technology.
The only news we were getting was negative, that bitcoins are risky as a form of investment. Nothing was said about its impressive engineering.
Then bitcoins also made it on TV if I recall correctly on our local news and the presentator announced that the central bank of Mauritius has announced that bitcoins are risky. That’s the only advertising bitcoins got in Mauritius!
Facebook which so many are dissing at times, sometimes helps you to find like minded people! While posting about areas of interest I got into contact with someone who was at the same school as I was and who is definitely way more savy about crypto currencies than I am. Well thanks to him I got introduced to this subject. The details he was mentioning about crypto currencies was absolutely an alien language and still is. So I decided to dig into bitcoins and learn what is bitcoin in order to understand and to have some comprehension.
Watching a few youtube videos did help to get the overall picture but I still felt more lost! I wanted to know how they work. I checked some bitcoin websites and reading didn’t help much either. I then watched a lot of youtube videos where bitcoins are explained. This kind of started to make more sense to me and then later on, when re-viewing those bitcoin explanatory websites their content was starting to make more sense.
But I have realised, everything about bitcoins is huge. Once you thought OK now I understood this part, you will soon discover HOW LITTLE YOU KNOW… And this makes it even more interesting! I don’t even see bitcoins as a mere currency for buying and selling. It’s way more than that!
Continue Reading
Changes in the landscape of holiday rental agencies in Mauritius
August 16, 2014
This year has been a -and still is going to be a very challenging year for many holiday rental agencies in Mauritius. When I speak of holiday rental agencies in general, I mean those that act as an intermediary in proposing beach villas and apartments on their websites usually holding a tour operators licence obtained by the Mauritius Tourism Authority. There is a difference to the tasks performed by property managers who do maintenance work on site, receive clients and have exclusivity in re-marketing those units through a network of agencies with whom they collaborate. Some of these market their offers through my Isla-Mauricia holiday rentals agency websites.
To run a holiday rental agency in Mauritius means you are operating in an ever growing competitive market. The more costs you have, the bigger your team is, the more hard you will be hit once the low season strikes and if your bookings start becoming less and less. A situation I had to face myself since last November 2013. I experienced a sudden decline in bookings. November, usually one of my best months performed very badly and this trend remained on going till May. June and July have been satisfactory and I’m currently observing the month of August there are still 15 days to go and I hope for this month to end stable which could be a sign for recovery and the year ending positively. Though I speak for my own situation, it could be completely different for others.
Changes in the landscape of holiday rental agencies in Mauritius
I faced for the first time in my life this year the challenge of laying off my team that had grown to be like a family. This could make for another blog post in the context of challenges an entrepreneur faces and how to lay off and say good bye – its over!
There are various theories, scenarios that you can study, or try to put into practice but reality often has its surprises taking you off guard and handing you a slap! A slap to wake up or a slap to make you cry. When money talks, it can get “brutal”. Deal with banks and you will see, there is no love, no heart, no passion – just the figures that matter – the rest is just acting to get your business. From smile to the dagger into your back. This wasn’t my case but this is what you could face when laying off since its a very sensitive issue.
Continue Reading
Yifat Cohen & Jason T. Wiser Google+ Strategies – How to master hashtags and decipher authority signals
August 14, 2014
Yesterday night I spent a while watching those two recorded hangout on air (HoA) sessions of Jason T. Wiser and Yifat Cohen. I decided to give it a night and let it sink in and reflect before I make my personal article of what spoke to me the most from their presentation. I must also add that sometimes watching various HoA relating to the subject of social media and marketing that some terms take a while to sink in. While David Amerland has mentioned so often in his presentations the term instant gratification – it’s only now after hearing it again and trying to access some links that this made a tick realising that yes indeed this is what I or we have turned into. We want things now, and with the least clicks possible.
Yifat Cohen – Jaston T. Wiser – Get On Track Stay On Track – More Yifat Cohen G+ Tips, Tricks, and Strategies for Your Small Business
I have been on many websites in the past, and you know those long pages which tell you stories over stories where at the end in order to get what you want you must pay to get the answer. When I see opt in offers on websites, it’s usually what I expect – a smart content scheme to entice me to give my credentials in order to get something for free where halfway through I must then pay. Meaning this has led me to doubt opt in pages. That’s why; the LEAST I have to click away from a network, the more I prefer it. This is what is so great about hangouts on Google+ you do get professional information for free. It is a different form of University where you make up your own studies, get access to experts, get to ask them questions. On top its fun!
Digital Shopping Tool Impact Study – how to improve your tools performance?
August 9, 2014
Purchase decisions – How and why people shop and buy
What are digital shopping tools was the first question I had when I saw the interview title of Jason T. Wiser Google+ hangout on air. This question gets answered by Kim Finnerty in more details in their discussion round that you should watch if you are running a business online. At first I thought it is some sort of analytics tool or stats. Actually it can be anything from a search engine to a mobile payment program.
Digital Shopping Tool Impact Study by #OnTrackTips
Whenever I watch any of these interviews I’m on the lookout for the jewel information which I can put into practice for my own Mauritius Holiday Rentals business for my agency Isla-Mauricia. What spoke out to me the most is the topic regarding reviews and you will note that my transcript which is a break up of their discussion below also mentions that reviews generate very high conversion rates. Even though this video dates back to the year 2013 you will see in this Google+ post which I have reshared recently from Jason T. Wiser which dates back to the 4th of August where he gives a good advice about linking to your Google+ reviews.
Mauritius Charcuterie Fresh or Frozen Meat Products supplier of 5 Star hotels De Lapeyre Ltd.
August 4, 2014
Whether its pickled specialities, a smoked chicken or roasted ham – De Lapeyre Ltd. is your partner of choice for your local charcuterie meat products in Mauritius.
Charcuterie Mauritius De Lapeyre Ltd.
They have their own savoir faire, authentic recipes and traditional techniques practised since over 30 years.
Continue Reading
What costs to expect when starting your own holiday rentals agency or tour operator services in Mauritius?
August 3, 2014
In my first article in my blog I wrote in depth about “What are the future outlooks of agencies in the holiday home rentals industry of Mauritius?” My article is quite long and covers in a whole how to get started and what challenges you will face. I also address my own pessimistic view of the industry and if you are considering to get started you should read that. What I didn’t address in my previous article are the costs that you will encounter.
Costs of running a vacation rentals business in Mauritius
In this article I will give an approximate overview of costs that you will have to face if you wish to launch professionally your own company that offers vacation rentals and other tourism related services. When I got started I didn’t know which costs to expect. I hope this article will help you in your planning and also to get a clear overview if your idea is realistic to get started in this industry.
Continue Reading
Christopher Ahlberg: I Know What You’ll Do Next Summer – Pioneers Festival 2013
July 5, 2014
Recorded Future is a web intelligence software platform that helps companies anticipate threats and capitalize on opportunities.
A fascinating software and start up company that can come to conclusions with the analysis of the large amount of data which is openly available on the world wide web. It does make one curious how a company can tap and harness into such information and come up with various results. Looking into the potential of what the future in a certain spectrum might be holding.
In this video Milo Yiannopoulos from The Kernel at Pioneer interviews Christopher Ahlberg founder of Recorded Future in a short compact 21 minutes session.
If you like subjects such as Big Data, Web Intelligence and organisation of data, analysis and giving it structure – before diving into the video you can have an idea what Recorded Future does here → https://www.recordedfuture.com/web-intelligence/
Hiking North East Mauritius – Roches Noires Caves, Bras d’eau forest till Poste Lafayette beach – Pat Loisirs
June 24, 2014
Level 1 hike. Not tough, easy go for amateurs.
Track we did was around 10Km.
We started at the village of Rivière du Rempart — Old Railway Track — Caves of Roches Noires — Mauritius Radio Telescope — Mango Orchard — Bras D’eau Visitor’s Centre — Bras D’eau Trail — and ended at Poste La Fayette beach.
Climbing through the caves of Mauritius left by volcanic activity is like witnessing the foundation and construction of Mauritius. It does look a bit like concrete bays without the proper lighting.
Mauritius Roches Noires caves – photo by Annika Schöbe
We start the day from Grand Baie and meet up with the hikers group of the club Pat Loisirs in the centre of Riviere du Rempart. On a Sunday morning it is quite busy there. If you are looking for a parking, town centre might not be ideal – you might also consider parking a bit more before at the town entrance if coming from Roches Noires. Our meeting point is set at the Shell filling station. The road that will be our starting point also goes past by that filling station. We parked the car a bit more further away just before that narrow bridge which you can cross and that leads directly to the caves. The people there are friendly and we asked them if we can park close to their property which they approved.
What does Constat à l’amiable mean? Driving and Accidents in Mauritius
June 21, 2014
When it comes to driving in Mauritius, various informations, laws, theories and facts seem to come gradually over the years as you gain more and more experience. Whether you just got your driving licence, or moved to Mauritius you will definitely have some questions to what you must abide to when you drive here and some questions will pop up when its hopefully not to late! In this article I will address what is a “Constat à l’amiable” (something I was pondering upon and about which I posted here on Google+) and a few other points on which I will extend with an introduction of some general information that is good to know of!
Constat a lamiable in Mauritius
Like any other country, Mauritius has a set of laws to which car drivers must abide and respect. Even if the island appears exotic and a bit laid back, there is no leniency when it comes to rules and they will be applied and not looked over. You should definitely NOT try to bribe a policeman!
Therefore car drivers that do not respect the law are not acts for you to imitate or follow. I’m mentioning this for the case that if you are new to Mauritius and think you need to follow a certain driving style – just be careful! Yes, many drivers will still overtake a bus even though there is a white line for example. It doesn’t mean you should do that…
Stick to the rules. Sooner or later they will get caught and pay heavy fines. Speeding alone can cost you around Rs.2000. Considering that its only a small moment of excess speed pressing on the accelerator – those fines can definitely hurt your monthly budget and you will receive demerit points!
Continue Reading
How to suck it up to get an influencers attention – but why would you do that?
May 7, 2014
Yesterday night I watched this recorded Google+ hangout on air (abbreviation: HoA) #TNTBootcamp – Influence Marketing Techniques & David Amerland which was hosted by Ronnie Bincer & Christine DeGRaff who run the Hangout Helper series who had as their guest speaker David Amerland. I have named the title of this post according to what was mentioned in the video and made reference to Martin Shevington – this mentioning made the biggest impact on me because it was so straightforward and quite clear that this is a challenging scenario many new comers look up to. …Because its now possible on Google+ network like it has never been before!
It’s been a while that I haven’t watched any HoAs with David Amerland and I truly missed them for a while so I decided to catch up again yesterday.
When it comes to the topics of semantics, connections and the future of search this is one of my favourite resource and influencer to get study material from. David has recently published a new book called Google+ Hangouts for Business: How to use Google+ Hangouts to Improve Brand Impact, Build Business and Communicate in Real-Time. I haven’t read it yet but you can also check what I posted about his previous book which also fits in very well in relationship to this video and topic: How I was influenced via a Google+ Hangout Video to make a purchase
Google plus Hangouts for Business
The presentations of David Amerland are information laden meaning his material is worth several reviews at times. By reviews I mean to re-watch his presentations several times.
I believe that the logic behind semantic search is not only Google related but albeit the future of search itself. It might also be good to have several search engines for a better eco system and avoiding a monopole. If one search engine desires to become an answering machine, we users might still not necessarily at times require an answer but just plain results to choose form and create our own answer. Maybe the search giant will provide various options – they are smart, they will want to keep you glued to their system.
The market out there doesn’t belong to just one company -changes can occur, nowadays even faster than you would expect! Who knows someday a new search giant might surface! Maybe there is a search company out there that will master semantics at a point no one has ever seen and create a new wave of people switching their well known tools in accepting a new one. You remember the days when Google suddenly surfaced with just a simply entry field and search button? Maybe privacy, control and surveillance will freak out nations to adopt a new data supplier…
Starting your website or blog with WordPress as CMS
May 6, 2014
I recently watch a recorded Google+ hangout called Working With WordPress invited by Kristin Drysdale a friend whom I got to know on Google+ and who keeps me in the loop of great events on Google+. This is also what makes the network so special, the new people that you get to know and connect with on Google+
The informative presentation was hosted by Craig Chamberlin (whose Google+ profile has a stunning +128 Million views!) who chatted with Robert Ryan on the theme regarding working with WordPress. I took some notes of their discussions and Google+ always proves to be a great resource when it comes learning new techniques, tricks and tips from the pros. I still consider a one hour show worth it if even you learned something new that was revealed to you by something you didn’t know of but which took only maybe a minute.
WordPress as CMS
On a whole I would say that this video is not a starting guide for beginners (but good for beginners to have a look at and re-watch 6 months later if you are starting your blog now!) who have no basic knowledge at all of how to install a website with WordPress. It does tackle a few definitions such as “What is WordPress” which I have covered below but the remaining shared discussion is good food for someone that has already used WordPress for a while and gives insights about various marketing techniques and a bunch of mistakes we all tend to do that should be avoided such as excessive tags and connecting a post with to many categories leading to duplicate content. Yet alone have I been doing quite a few mistakes for years on Google+ when it comes to sharing my posts to the right circles – one to often might assume to be doing the right thing but is actually doing it wrong. Learning and listening to other experts in the industry can be such an eye opener for improving what you do.
Their discussion gave me some inspiration to also write about my experience regarding WordPress.
The Power of Brand Evangelism with Guy Kawasaki hosted by Jason T. Wiser
May 3, 2014
In this recorded Google+ hangout Jason T. Wiser interviews Guy Kawasaki (His Google+ has a stunning count of more than 370 Million views!) and Peg Fitzpatrick. In a simple way you can get to know what differentiates a brand evangelist from a sales person and various other attributes about a brand evangelist. As currently I was looking for material on the theme of branding this interview came in very handy. I have came across the blog of Guy Kawasaki several years ago where he offered various free downloads of his presentations. What I really liked in this recorded Google+ hangout was this part when he mentioned: “Evangelism can be used for various things but you also need to believe in what you are selling. To position helping people achieve security, peace of mind, satisfaction – its more about these soft goals. It’s not just about making a buck! Within this parameter you can apply evangelism. But evangelism isn’t the only way.” This is the very same essence of what he also used to say many back years then which impressed me and also gave my perception on entrepreneurship a complete different view and also a big lesson!
Unlock The Power Of Brand Evangelism
In this recorded Google+ hangout Guy Kawasaki also speaks of Canva for which he is now an evangelist. I have made notes of the interview from which many of you can learn. The link to the recorded Google+ hangout of On Track Tipps by Jason T. Wiser.
In a sum up, you need to have an awesome product that you love! If you have a crappy product you will have a tough time evangelising people about it! I also like the tipps Guy Kawasaki gave about recruiting. Is the person you are recruiting infected by your product? Check out for more below.
Ubuntu 32-bit or 64-bit, Should I upgrade? Which iso version should I download?
April 25, 2014
Ubuntu releases each april and october a new stable release. It is numbered by the year and month in this format for let’s take 2013: 13.04 and 13.10. And for 2014 the newest release is 14.04. When a release is labelled LTS it stands for Long Term Support. Support refers to that Ubuntu releases bug fixes that you can update your system with, not free technical support.
Ubuntu 14.04 Terminal-32bit or 64-bit CPU with lscpu
When Ubuntu 14.04 was released I had a series of questions which you might also have when considering an update or installing Ubuntu from scratch.
+Do I have a 32-bit or 64-bit processor?
+Which Ubuntu version should I download?
+Which Ubuntu version do I have am I running on my PC?
+Can I upgrade from a 32-bit install directly to a 64-bit version?
+Can I Install Amd64 Ubuntu On My Intel 64-bit Machine?
Continue Reading
ERP Made in Mauritius by ProximaSoft and how my interest was sparked!
April 17, 2014
I like ERP, Data Centres, web hosting, servers, ubuntu linux, CRMS, especially when its related to and from Mauritius. Therefore when I’m contacted by a software company in Mauritius, its like waking up a very curious sleeping data crawler…
What is ERP!?
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP is usually composed of various software modules with which you can manage various internal processes of a company.
With ERP you can optimise how your company is run, become efficient, save money and increase performance. Developing your own ERP or custom made FROM SCRATCH with some programmers that you appoint can in many situations be overkill meaning such projects can tend to be huge, be very costly and end up in catastrophies if some bugs cannot be fixed after some years and you become very dependant on the initial programmers that developed your software.
In many cases it is more wise to use, implement and adapt software already made by EXPERTS in this area. Companies in Mauritius need ERP and even better if a local software company like ProximaSoft can supply such software as they will understand way more better the needs of the local market and offer optimum solutions. This is where ProximaSoft can assist you.
ERP Made in Mauritius by ProximaSoft – Solis ERP © Proximasoft.com
How to reduce your IT Computer purchase office expenses in Mauritius
April 16, 2014
Whether you are going to purchase a computer for private use, several computers for your business there are ways how you can reduce the price that you pay for your PCs.
Small businesses in Mauritius, whether you are starting off or already running, computer equipment can be a costly investment. I will outline here a way that worked for me greatly in reducing my costs and on top also improving my work experience!
Use Ubuntu to save costs on your computer equipment
When I started my first company Isla-Mauricia I purchased mainly second hand computers but unfortunately their life time was also very low. If you are going to buy second hand computers try to get those that have only been used less than a year. I still have one second hand PC that I bought that I managed to get from a company closure. This PC is still running now after 4 years.
Continue Reading
Which Villa in Mauritius is the real GEM of them all?
April 16, 2014
While checking my emails today at work I noticed one particular message that was written to me by an owner with whom I collaborate who was addressing to me that she was disappointed of not seeing her villa listed amongst my list of favourite villas in Mauritius. Considering that my blog is only nearly 2 weeks old I was particularly positively touched by her message. Engagement and communication is everything. Having direct feedback of a partner who follows up on what you do and reads your publication and on top gives you feedback is a very nice form of encouragement. This is even exemplary! Owners, property managers and marketing agencies need to work hand in hand.
Mauritius Lilot Villa – view from above – © Renaud Vandermeeren and L’ilot
Mauritius Lilot Villa – close up of the villa – © Renaud Vandermeeren and L’ilot
We are humans and what we publish on the world wide web is intended for YOU to be read – NO we don’t write texts for search engines to spider. So, a feedback means more than just the clicking of a like button. Therefore I gave her message the special attention that it deserves. The villa in question is Villa L’ilot and she is absolutely right, how could I have missed out her villa on my favourite listing page. Instead of just posting a photo and a short intro I decided to blog a whole post of her villa and also addressing a bit the villa theme.
Continue Reading